Oberholtzer shuts down Astros minor-leaguers

Lefthander Brett Oberholtzer pitched in B game on Wednesday morning against the Astros minor-leaguers, throwing nearly 70 pitches while recording 15 outs over “four” innings. Because he was so efficient, he remained on the mound for an extra out a few times after recording three in a frame.

“I feel good where I’m at,” he said. “Hopefully next time it will be five or six innings.”

Oberholtzer kept working on improving his curveball.

“I threw the ball well,” he said. “I was working on my curveball being more consistent. There were times when it was good last year and there were times when it wasn’t so good. I’m just working on being more refined and more efficient with it.

Reliever Chad Qualls was pleased with the 21 pitches he threw over his inning of work in the B game. “In the offseason I threw a lot of bullpens, anywhere from 10 or 12 bullpens,” he said. “I’ve done that last year and this year and it makes me just feel like I really don’t need a lot of spring training to get in shape. So I can actually use a lot of spring training to fine tune things.”

Update:

Astros pitching prospect Asher Wojciechowski, who suffered a right lat strain, remains shut down after the injury flared up on Sunday.